Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) has apologized to a Muslim woman who complained that a cashier in Utah mocker her veil, saying to her, "Please don't stick me up." The Council on American-Islamic Relations said the incident occurred on February 2.
According to the Associated Press, Rolando Rodriquez, a vice president and regional general manager for the company, sent the woman a letter saying that "I can assure you that the associate in question was disciplined in accordance with our employment policies as a result of the situation."
In addition, the store involved will hold sensitivity training sessions for its employees, with an emphasis on Islam-related issues.
It looks like Wal-Mart is handling this well, but I hope that the "discipline in accordance with employment policies" involved the immediate firing of the worker. If you need sensitivity training to know not to say stuff like that, you're probably too messed up to be working in retail.











Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
2-20-2008 @ 3:51PM
Andy Hitler said...
He should have asked "Are you going to blow us up/"
2-20-2008 @ 4:03PM
Stan Atnipp said...
Being fired for making a comment that was neither vulgar or rude in the sense of words. Sounds like an attempt to be funny and the comment did not go over well with a certain person. Could that person have been overly self conscious about her dress? Or perhaps felt out of play being in this country without all the other females dressed and treated like herself?
I do believe we are going over to far in the effort to set each country with their own background - it does not appear the foreign personnel are really triing to assimilate into this country - and I know if I was in THEIR country NO effort would be expented in making me feel at home. Rather the comment would be - "If you do not like it GO HOME". You do not belong here, etc. I have heard those words when I have traveled overseas.
I really do not like your last comments about firing that person because of the comment made - it appears censership is here and if you speak out you will be punished.
2-21-2008 @ 12:37AM
C. Joseph said...
I agree 100% with your comments. I often wonder why is it that more people don't think in this way. The west seems hell bent on making every effort to appease those from the east instead of insisting that they conform to the laws of the land. You know the old saying "When in Rome do as the Romans doing" which as you rightly said, is what would be expected from visitors to their countries.
2-20-2008 @ 4:07PM
Allegra D said...
enter here
2-20-2008 @ 4:17PM
shelley said...
That is the problem with allowing foreigners into the united states. We have too many different types of people, and these things happen. America is for Americans. Iraq is for the Iraqis. Mexico is for the mexicans. Everybody should just stay in their own country. If they don't like their country. Fix it. Don't come here and bring our country down.
2-20-2008 @ 5:44PM
Lodovico said...
Brava. I like your Comment.
I am italian and I wont let you know that the moslims in Italy they pretend to remove the Crucifix from the Hospital rooms and the schools rooms. Can you imagine?
Ludo
2-20-2008 @ 9:15PM
J said...
Maybe the Indigenous people that happened to be here when the first Europeans came here thought the same thing?
2-20-2008 @ 5:01PM
JB said...
If Wal-Mart fired the cashier over that remark (did it?) it will be facing a multi-million law suit. JB
2-20-2008 @ 8:54PM
lee said...
These comments are ridiculous. Someone can be Muslim AND American. If we're going to kick out people that are different, for whatever reason, we should start on people with bad grammar.
2-20-2008 @ 5:09PM
Wayne said...
If someone had come through my checkstand wearing a bandana over their face I might have joked in the same manner. It's simply a matter of time before someone, likely a male, dresses in conservative muslim female clothes and holds up a bank or other place of business.
No one wants to say anything for fear of being insensitive. But the reality is that hiding your face is a security risk.
In a country where everyone expects the freedom to speak their mind, I find it shallow when others cry foul at comments that offend them.
We allow Nazis to give speeches in public places with full police protection, but people of minority status can't be expected to shrug off comments they find offensive.
Political correctness is just another term for censorship.
2-20-2008 @ 5:47PM
paul said...
Freedom of Speech is no longer guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States of America? Did I miss the revolution or something? What if a comment was made because the customer was wearing a see-through blouse? Should the clerk be fired for that too? How about if it was a customer wearing a holster and side arms? Fire the clerk! How about if the customer's hair was on fire and the clerk made a comment? Why is a veil more "sacred" than any of those examples? Where do we draw the line? Should we fire the clerk for saying "Good Morning" to someone who works nights? Most of these examples are ludicrous on the face of it but demanding that a clerk be fired for commenting about a veil is ridiculous too. You should be ashamed of yourself Zac, I'm insulted by your comment. I think you should be fired.
2-20-2008 @ 6:07PM
David said...
Another fine example of the deterioration of America! If America is so great (and it is) and all these "wonderful" people want to come here and seek the great American dream then why should we have to bend and change to suit them. Perhaps the fact that she wears that stupid garb is offensive to us. Consider the other side of the story and know if the circumstances had us in their country we would have to be worried about being killed in public not just offended! If I sound like an "Angry White Man" it's because I am. The very fabric of this country and what it once stood for is melting away and I for one am not happy about it and what that may mean for all of our children. Want to live in America? No Problem---- Just live like an American. Lighten Up and stop taking yourself so seriously or go the hell home!
2-20-2008 @ 6:32PM
n2ishun said...
I work and have worked in the public's eye for a number of years now in the retail industry. There are a number of Hispanics with whom I work and we get along very well. We even joke with each other about our different ethnicities, but we have been in this country, the United States of America, long enough to know that we are Americans first. We do not see each other as persons who would derive some pleasure from deliberately insulting someone's ethnicity. There is nothing wrong in being of a cetain ethnicity and you should be proud of who you are. However, ( to use a well known phrase) "when in Rome, do as the Romans do."
I agree wholeheartedly with the reader who stated that [we have gone overboard] in trying to appease those who have moved into this country from foreign lands.
While I do agree that perhaps this cashier's attempt to joke with this woman may have been beyond her ability to comprehend, I feel that terminating this employee will only set a precedent for future actions upon employees which may not be justifiable punishment.
I don't know how long this Muslim woman has been living in the U.S., but she needs to realize that she is NOT in her previous country of residence. She is now living in a different culture here in the States and needs to seriously "get with the program" if she intends to go on living here. Otherwise, she will continue to run into people in this country who will "insult" her.
Wal-Mart would be totally out-of-line if this employee were to be discharged due to this incident.
2-20-2008 @ 8:47PM
Carol said...
The Walmart employee made a simple error in judgment. She/he did not deserve to be punished for this. Just spoken to about the error. I hope he/she was not fired for this. The muslim woman should be a little more understanding - after all, she is dressed quite differently and it does make me nervous to be around someone with their face partially covered.
2-20-2008 @ 9:00PM
Mark said...
"Being fired for making a comment that was neither vulgar or rude in the sense of words." Stan WTF does that even mean?
2-20-2008 @ 9:10PM
T. Varadaraj said...
I am glad people are becoming less PC and showing up Muslim tantrums (or tantrums from any other religious groups) for what they are: forcing reasonable people to accommodate to unreasonable beliefs. The veil should be ridiculed just like if I went in front of the cashier with, say, my palm on the top of my head and stated that that should be respected because my religion said that I had to have it on my head all the time.
Enough is enough.
2-20-2008 @ 9:45PM
Bobby said...
Enough is enough. If you come in my business for "ANYTHING" with a mask over your facr "FOR ANY REASON" you are a "SUSPECT" for robbing me. You will deal with the results.
2-20-2008 @ 10:15PM
ROGER said...
MAYBE SHE (IN HIDING) WAS JUST UGLY
2-20-2008 @ 10:32PM
David said...
Hey, I thought the comment was "hillarious". I am laughing my ass off. But to the serious side....people joke about stuff that bothers them, just that simple. Fire the cashier??? If Wal-Mart is smart, they will go forth with the sensitivity training and lesson learned....over and done with. Please let me know what register he or she is working and I will attempt to check out there, I got a couple of my own jokes I will share while ringing up the goods.
2-21-2008 @ 12:56AM
dale said...
give me a break!! what wouldve happened to me in their country? they dont even like us.my son is in iraq, and they hate us..we have gone overboard for them here.. we cannot dress the way we do here..over there, as woman do in the USA. jeez.. we have become so rediculous...